Kinship terminology in SLs

[Kim Carlton Diez]

<<<I am out of practice and not at all sure of this, but I recall at least some 
signers distinguishing male and female initialized 'Cousin' in this way, which 
spoken/written French does (and with the same letter) but not English.>>>

As a certified interpreter of ASL and a budding linguist, I can confirm that this is indeed correct. 

--
Kim Carlton Diez, BA, CI & CT 

What lies behind us and what lies 
before us are tiny matters 
compared to what lies within us. 
Ralph Waldo Emerson 

-------------- Original message from "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu>: -------------- 


> You may already be familiar with ASL (American Sign Language) kinship terms, 
> but no one has mentioned them in this thread. 
> 
> In ASL, the locations upper face (forehead to temple) and side or lower face 
> (cheek to chin) are morphemes for male and female respectively, originally 
> derived from the (Old French SL) signs for 'boy' and 'girl'. In addition to the 
> signs for boy, girl, man, and woman, these locations are the sole markers of sex 
> in the following pairs of kinship terms: 
> 
> father : mother 
> grandfather : grandmother (& "great-...") 
> son : daughter (< BOY/GIRL + BABY) 
> brother : sister (< BOY/GIRL + SAME) 
> 
> They are also used with the initialized terms 
> 
> Uncle : Aunt 
> 
> I am out of practice and not at all sure of this, but I recall at least some 
> signers distinguishing male and female initialized 'Cousin' in this way, which 
> spoken/written French does (and with the same letter) but not English. 
> 
> 
> -- Mark A. Mandel 
> Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania 
> 
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